Aaron Swartz’s Prosecutors Were Threatened and Hacked, DOJ Says

The Justice Department says Aaron Swartz's lead prosecutor, Stephen Heymann, received this postcard with a picture of his father's head in a guillotine.

Massachusetts federal authorities involved in the prosecution of Aaron Swartz have received threatening e-mail and snail mail, the Justice Department said in a court filing, while the lead prosecutor in the case had his Facebook page hacked.

Swartz was found dead at his Brooklyn apartment in January after committing suicide. The 26-year-old internet sensation was under indictment in Massachusetts for more than a dozen counts of computer hacking and wire fraud in connection to the downloading of millions of academic articles from a subscription database from MIT’s campus.

His death had ignited calls to reshape federal hacking laws while many suggested prosecutors went too far and were harassing Swartz into taking a plea or face a stiff prison sentence.

Now it appears that prosecutors, including U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz and lead prosecutor Stephen Heymann, are on the receiving end of the harassment, the government said.

“In my capacity as first assistant United States Attorney, I have been shown various harassing and potentially threatening e-mail messages directed at United States Attorney Ortiz and the United States Attorney’s Office following Mr. Swartz’s suicide,” prosecutor Jack W. Pirozzolo of Massachusetts wrote in a filing. (.pdf)

He adds that “I have been shown various harassing and threatening messages directed at AUSA Heymann. One such e-mail I have seen states, among other things: ‘ROFLMAO just saw you were totally dox’d over the weekend by Anonymous. How does it feel to become an enemy of the state? FYI, you might want to move out of the country and change your name …'”

Pirozzolo said the e-mail “copies personal information of AUSA Heymann, including his home address and personal telephone number, among other things. AUSA Heymann has also reported to me that his personal information (including his home address, personal telephone number, and the names of family member and friends) were posted online, and that his Facebook page was hacked.”

Heymann also received a postcard (.pdf) with a picture of his father’s head in a guillotine. His father is Philip B. Heymann, a Harvard Law School legal scholar and a former deputy attorney general, Pirozzolo said.

The filing was lodged Friday in federal court as part of a legal battle between Swartz’s family and the government over releasing sealed documents in the case. The government said the threats were reason enough to redact names of individuals involved in the investigation leading to Swartz’s indictment.